Development of interactive gadgets: pedagogical, methodological and ergonomic aspects for industrial design

The Industry 4.0 is a consequence of the evolution in technological advances, which has allowed and the use of new tools for simulation, digital integration, fabrication flexibility, and personalization to achieve new product design solutions. The importance and actuality of this revolution have had a great impact on the engineering and design education system, and this is the case of the Faculty of Engineering and Technology Sciences (FCITEC), from the Autonomous University of Baja California (UABC), where the implementation of gadget prototyping has been encouraged. This ongoing work is intended to delineate the methodological, pedagogical, and ergonomic aspects of gadget prototyping with platforms such as Arduino and NodeMCU, and its benefits to the Industrial Design (ID) Discipline. It is a project that started in 2018 with the scope of understanding interactivity, usability, and multidisciplinary collaboration, which are key for a designer’s profile. In this sense, User-Centered Design methodology is used as a framework for usable product development, with the aid of task, interface, and housing design. Specific tools of particular interest are persona design, interface analysis, and cognitive architecture outline. Important results so far include 1) student-made prototypes, 2) usability workshops in international congresses, 3) intellectual property registration, and 4) academic course designs.